As the use of plastic cards for credit cards, identification cards and the like continues to become more widespread, credit card fraud and identification card fraud are becoming increasing problems. The ease in which criminals have been able to manufacture or manipulate current cards is a result of the existence of the easily-altered magnetic stripe storage medium used by current cards. These magnetic stripes are easy to program and reprogram using commonly available technology, resulting, e.g., in so-called magnetic stripe cloning.
Thus, there is a need in the plastic card industry to provide a more secure plastic card that is more difficult or nearly impossible to duplicate or manipulate. The likely successor to the magnetic stripe cards is known as a memory card or smart card. The smart card can generally be described as a card having an integrated circuit with memory that is capable of securely storing data and/or executing processing functions.
The most recent development in smart cards is a contactless card that interacts with a terminal reader using electromagnetic coupling. The smart card incorporates an inlay that is a symmetrical substrate incorporating a micro-chip bounded to an antenna and functioning as the heart of a radio-frequency identification (RFID) part, a near field communication (NFC) chip, or similar chip credential. This smart card requires only proximity to a reader antenna to communicate. Contactless technology is rapidly replacing traditional machine readable identification technologies in numerous applications such as those employing bar codes and magnetic stripes, offering substantially enhanced security and convenience.
Self-adhesive smart card labels are a special type of smart card for easily adding contactless smart card technology to any type of form factor. The labels contain a RFID or NFC chip and antenna and allow a user to encode and read them like a smart card. The labels are available in various shapes and sizes and may be used for access control, time and attendance, membership/loyalty programs, logical access, storage of biometric templates, parking, electronic purse, and many other applications requiring secure and reliable read/write cards.
Some RFID phone stickers are provided as part of a plastic card and may be punched out for placement, for example on a mobile phone. Typically, such plastic cards are produced by a card manufacturer and may be personalized by the end application provider. The plastic cards require cut lines that separate the sticker from rest of the plastic card. A conventional phone sticker plastic card is shown in FIG. 1. A first plastic sheet 1 is provided on top of an adhesive layer 2 that is separated from a second plastic sheet 5 by a release layer 3. Cut lines C that are generated using a mechanical cutting tool separate a label area L of the first plastic sheet, the adhesive layer 2 and the release layer 3 from the rest of the plastic card. The label area L may comprise electronic elements like a MID chip and antenna. Because the mechanical cutting tool displaces the plastic material of the first plastic layer 1, elevations 11 are formed at the edges of the cut lines C. Said elevations 11 result in an uneven surface of the plastic card. This causes problems when transporting the plastic card through handling and printing devices for personalization of the plastic card and sticker.